If you you sync your iPhone with Gmail, Hotmail or some other Cloud service that supports PIM, new contact entries made on the phone are supposed to be instantly (or very quickly) synchronized with that service – and vice versa. But Craig asks:

Why do new contacts I enter into my iPhone 4 show up in the phone’s contacts but not GMail? If I add a new contact in Gmail in a web browser, they sync with the phone, but not the other way around. Help!

If this is happening to you, the problem (most likely) is that you don’t have your iPhone set to save new contacts to the Cloud service, but only to the phone itself.

When you receive a text message on an iPhone, a blue pop-up notification window appears on the screen – even if the phone is in standby mode with the screen off.

Can you get the same notifications for new email messages on the iPhone or iPad?

Yes – but not with the standard iOS software.

The Mail app in iOS handles email largely in the background. There is a red badge that appears on the Mail app icon showing the number of unread emails for your configured email account(s) on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, but you must open the app to view the subject, sender and content of new messages.

If you want test message style pop-ups for new email, there is an app available that adds this functionality. It’s called PushMail [$2.99 iTunes Store].

Bummed because you’re still using an old POP3 email account that doesn’t support push? Is your iPhone’s battery draining from constantly checking for new mail on your POP3 account? Would you like to know when new email arrives as soon as it hits your inbox?

Then use Gmail to push that old POP3 email to your iPhone! It’s free, easy to setup and will be ready to use in just a few minutes.

If you’re a news junkie (who’s not a shut-in), it makes you a little sad that there are periods in the day where you’re too busy to check the wires for any big news stories that just broke.

Nodding in agreement? You need Push News [iTunes Link]. This iPhone app uses iPhone 3.0’s Push Notification service to send you breaking news in real time. The service is powered by CNN, the New York Times, BBC, ESPN, CNBC and Google News (the next version of the app will add Fox News and USA Today). Just select the news sources you’d like to receive alerts from and you’ll never be out of the news loop for more than a few minutes again.

Other features include the ability to put the service to sleep (like during the night when you need some sleep yourself), customizable alert sounds, duplicate blocking, a built-in Safari window for quick reading of full articles, and badge counts of newly pushed stories.

One of the only true Gmail disappointments over the years has been the service’s lack of Push support for most mobile devices – including the iPhone. We’ve been lamenting this missing functionality for some time, but today, our laments are no more.

Push Gmail is now a reality!

iPhone and iPod touch users can add Push Gmail to their handsets as long as they’re running the OS 3.0 or above. Push service is available via Exchange, so when you set up the account in the Settings menu, be sure to select Exchange as the email service.